• Alberto Zamò, Venerino Poletti, Daniela Reghellin, Licia Montagna, Serena Pedron, Paola Piccoli, and Marco Chilosi.
• Department of Pathology, University of Verona, Italy.
• Sarcoidosis Vasc Dif. 2005 Jun 1; 22 (2): 123-8.

Background And Aim Of The WorkIdiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis/Usual Interstitial Pneumonia (IPF/UIP) is a diffuse and progressive lung disease whose pathogenesis is incompletely understood. Recently, the presence of Herpesvirus-specific DNA was detected in the large majority of cases of a series of IPF/UIP and other lung interstitial diseases. We have therefore tested our own IPF/UIP series for the presence of HHV-8 and EBV proteins.MethodsWe used a variety of sensitive technologies including immunohistochemistry with NCL-HHV8-LNA and EBV-LMP1 antibodies, as well as of EBV RNA (EBER) by in-situ hybridisation; the presence of HHV-8 and EBV DNA was also investigated by means of PCR and subsequent analysis using a microfluidic apparatus.ResultsDespite the good sample quality, immunohistochemical, in-situ hybridisation and PCR results were negative for both EBV and HHV-8.ConclusionsWe conclude that EBV and HHV-8 are not involved in the pathogenesis of IPF/UIP.

38 keywords...

hide…